Nowadays, we use different products for personal cleanliness, laundry, dishwashing and household cleaning, but this is very much a 20th-century development.

现如今，个人清洁，洗衣洗碗，房屋清洁的产品层出不穷。但是这些很大程度上都是20世纪的成果了。

The origins of cleanliness date back to prehistoric times.

清洁的起源可以追溯到史前时期。

Since water is essential for life, the earliest people lived near water and knew something about its cleansing properties - at least that it rinsed mud off their hands.

因为水是生命的根本，最早的人类临水而居，并且了解了水的清洁属性——至少能够将手上的泥巴洗掉。

During the excavation of ancient Babylon, evidence was found that soapmaking was known as early as 2800 BC.

在古巴比伦的挖掘过程中，考古学家发现证据证明早在公元前2800年人们就已经制作香皂。

Archaeologists discovered cylinders made of clay, with inscriptions on them saying that fats were boiled with ashes.

他们发现用陶土制作的圆柱上铭刻着，将灰烬和油脂放在一起煮。

This is a method of making soap, though there’s no reference to the purpose of this material.

这是制作肥皂的一种方法，但是没有提到这种材料的用途。

The early Greeks bathed for aesthetic reasons and apparently didn’t use soap.

早期的希腊人为了追求美而洗澡。很明显他们没有使用肥皂。

Instead, they cleaned their bodies with blocks of sand, pumice and ashes, then anointed themselves with oil, and scraped off the oil and dirt with a metal instrument known as a strigil. They also used oil mixed with ashes.

但是，他们用成块的沙子、浮石和灰烬来清洁身体。他们以油擦身，然后用一种名为刮身板的金属器物把油和身上的污垢一起刮掉。他们还把油和灰烬混合在一起。

Clothes were washed without soap in streams.

人们用溪水洗衣服，不用肥皂。

The ancient Germans and Gauls are also credited with discovering how to make a substance called ‘soap’, made of melted animal fat and ashes.

古时的德国人和高卢人被认为发现了如何用融化的动物脂肪和灰烬来制作“皂”。

They used this mixture to tint their hair red.

他们用这种混合物将头发染成红色。

Soap got its name, according to an ancient Roman legend, from Mount Sapo, where animals were sacrificed, leaving deposits of animal fat.

根据古罗马的传奇故事，皂的名字来自于肥皂山。在那里动物作为祭品被杀掉，地面上形成了脂肪沉积。

Rain washed these deposits, along with wood ashes, down into the clay soil along the River Tiber.

经雨水冲刷后的沉积物和木灰混合到了台伯河边的粘性土壤之中。

Women found that this mixture greatly reduced the effort required to wash their clothes.

妇女们发现这种混合物大大减少了洗衣服的工作量。

As Roman civilisation advanced, so did bathing.

随着罗马文明的进步，洗澡也在进步。

The first of the famous Roman baths, supplied with water from their aqueducts, was built around 312 BC.

第一个著名的罗马浴池是在公元前312年建造的，由渡槽供水。

The baths were luxurious, and bathing became very popular.

浴室很豪华，洗澡也变得流行起来。

And by the second century AD, the Greek physician Galen recommended soap for both medicinal and cleansing purposes.

到公元二世纪，希腊医生盖伦推荐将肥皂用于医药和清洁用途。

After the fall of Rome in 467 AD and the resulting decline in bathing habits, much of Europe felt the impact of filth on public health.

由于公元467年罗马沦陷和人们洗浴习惯的缺乏，欧洲大部分地区都感受到了污秽对公众健康的影响。

This lack of personal cleanliness and related unsanitary living conditions were major factors in the outbreaks of disease in the Middle Ages, and especially the Black Death of the 14th century.

个人清洁缺乏和相关的不洁的生活条件是中世纪疾病爆发的主要因素，特别是14世纪的黑死病。

Nevertheless, soapmaking became an established craft in Europe, and associations of soapmakers guarded their trade secrets closely.

尽管如此，肥皂剧制作在欧洲已成为一门老牌手艺，肥皂制作者协会严密保守着他们的商业秘密。

Vegetable and animal oils were used with ashes of plants, along with perfume, apparently for the first time.

很显然，这是第一次将植物油、动物油、植物灰和香料一起用来制作。

Gradually more varieties of soap became available for shaving and shampooing, as well as bathing and laundering.

渐渐地，更多种类的肥皂可以用来剃须、洗头、洗澡和洗衣服。

A major step toward large-scale commercial soapmaking occurred in 1791, when a French chemist, Nicholas Leblanc, patented a process for turning salt into soda ash, or sodium carbonate.

1791年，法国化学家尼古拉斯·勒布朗发明了一种将盐转化为苏打灰或碳酸钠的工艺，这是迈向大规模商业化肥皂制造的重要一步。

Soda ash is the alkali obtained from ashes that combines with fat to form soap.

苏打灰是从灰烬中提取的碱，它与脂肪结合形成肥皂。

The Leblanc process yielded quantities of good-quality, inexpensive soda ash.

勒布朗生产了大量质量上乘、价格低廉的苏打灰。

Modern soapmaking was born some 20 years later, in the early 19th century, with the discovery by Michel Eugène Chevreul, another French chemist, of the chemical nature and relationship of fats, glycerine and fatty acids.

现代肥皂制作诞生于大约20年后，即19世纪初，另一位法国化学家米歇尔·恩谢夫鲁发现了脂肪、甘油和脂肪酸的化学性质和相互关系。

His studies established the basis for both fat and soap chemistry, and soapmaking became a science.

他的研究为脂肪和肥皂化学奠定了基础，肥皂制造成为一门科学。

Further developments during the 19th century made it easier and cheaper to manufacture soap.19

世纪的进一步发展使肥皂的制造变得更容易和更便宜。

Until the 19th century, soap was regarded as a luxury item, and was heavily taxed in several countries.

直到19世纪，肥皂一直被视为奢侈品，在一些国家被征收重税。

As it became more readily available, it became an everyday necessity, a development that was reinforced when the high tax was removed.

随着它变得越来越易得，它成了日常生活的必需品。取消高额税收后，这一发展更加迅速。

Soap was then something ordinary people could afford, and cleanliness standards improved.

肥皂成了普通人买得起的物品，清洁标准也提高了。

With this widespread use came the development of milder soaps for bathing and soaps for use in the washing machines that were available to consumers by the turn of the 20th century.

随着这种广泛使用，20世纪初消费者们可以购买用于洗澡的较温和的肥皂和用于洗衣机的肥皂。